Structure and Style for Students: Year 1 Level A Basic Set (DVDs)

Structure lessons for Level A, Year 1 cover: Note Making/Outlines, Public Speaking, Writing From Notes, Retelling Narrative Stories, Summarizing a Reference, Writing From Pictures, Summarizing Multiple References, from Unit 7 (Inventive Writing) – Introductions/Conclusions, Writing a Letter, and a Timed Essay. Style lessons for Level A, Year 1 cover: Dress-Ups, Sentence Openers (2), and Banned Words.

SSS Level A is for students who are reading at a 3rd to 5th grade level. Video instruction and assignments over the two years comprise a basic introduction to writing skills. Instruction is incremental and clear. Andrew Pudewa, the presenter, is humorous and entertaining while presenting with clarity and good organizational skills. Courses are easy-to-use and highly effective. Course components include a Teacher Manual, a Student Packet, Binder, and Videos; sold individually or in packages.

The SSS Level A courses are for students who are reading at a 3rd to 5th grade level. Video instruction and assignments over the two years comprise a basic introduction to writing skills. Focusing on the structure and style of writing, structure is covered with nine units on note making, outlines, writing/summarizing from notes, inventive writing, and essay writing. With the goal of producing interesting and appealing writing, stylistic elements include dress-ups for sentences, sentence openers and avoiding overused words. Each year covers and reviews basic units as well as expanding into new areas. Instruction is incremental and clear. Andrew Pudewa, the presenter, is humorous and entertaining while presenting with clarity and good organizational skills. Courses are easy-to-use and highly effective. Course components include a Teacher Manual, a Student Packet, Binder, and Videos; sold individually or in packages.

Totally restructured and re-filmed for 2020, the Structure & Style series still features the incremental instruction, humor, and ease of use that made IEW courses the favorites of the millennium. The engaging teaching of Andrew Pudewa continues to win students’ hearts and minds and transform them into accomplished writers. This popular series is still focused on both the structure and the style of exceptional writing. There are still nine units of writing instruction at the very heart of all the Institute for Excellence in Writing programs. There are still three levels of instruction (Level A for Grades 3-5; Level B for Grades 6-8; and Level C for Grades 9-12).

What’s new? Each Structure and Style for Students course (six total) provides a year (24 weeks) of video instruction and effective writing lessons. The curriculum provides writing assignments, vocabulary words, and literature suggestions all neatly outlined in weekly lesson plans. Videos, Teacher Manual, Student Packet, and Binder are available in either DVD or Forever Streaming packages (Basic packages). Additional packages are the Basic Plus which includes Fix-It Grammar (at corresponding grade levels) and Portable Walls. The Premier package includes all these plus A Word Write Now and the Teaching Writing Structure and Style Seminar (Forever Streaming videos and seminar workbook, plus Premium Membership).

The nine instructional units in Structure and Style for Students (SSS) include: Note Making/Outlines, Writing From Notes, Retelling Narrative Stories, Summarizing a Reference, Writing From Pictures, Summarizing Multiple References, Inventive Writing, Essay Writing, and Formal Critique. The basic units are introduced in Level A, Year 1 and reviewed with increasing complexity in Level A, Year 2, Levels B and C. Additionally, topics from three units (Inventive Writing, Essay Writing, and Formal Critique) are introduced, reviewed, and expanded with each course. An Introduction to Poetry is covered in two courses – Level B, Year 1 and Level C, Year 1.

The Teacher Manual provides a course scope and sequence, weekly lesson plans, suggestions for adapting the 24 week schedule for various class schedules (one-day-a-week, two or three day, etc.) Reduced copies of student material are accompanied with teacher notes and suggested answers. Weekly Lesson Plans include teacher preparation, literature suggestions, use of videos, goals/objectives, copies of board notes (from video content), non-reproducible copies of source texts and model charts, notes on paper management (how to put papers into binders), and homework assignments.

Purchase of the Teacher Manual (by itself or with any of the packages) allows its owner to access the pdf downloads for its particular course for use within their own family. Download instructions are included on the blue page embedded in the TM. Downloads vary with the course but tend to include reproducible checklists for writing assignments, student samples, and an adaptation of the 24 week schedule to 30 weeks.

The Student Book/Packet provides all student papers for the course. These packets are reproducible for use by multiple children within the purchaser’s family. For co-ops or small groups, each family is required to purchase a Student Book. These include weekly overview pages, source texts, model charts (forms students use to complete assignments), and composition checklists.

The Binder (one-inch binder plus eight tabbed dividers) provides an easy-to-use organizational system. Instructions for setting up the binder are included in the Student Book.

The Videos provide 24 two-part instructional segments delivered by Andrew Pudewa in a classroom setting. They are available as part of the packages in either DVD form or Forever Streaming. Forever Streaming videos are available from the IEW website as long as they are needed by the original purchaser, but are nontransferable.